Learning Styles

An Essay by Liz  

     While there are many tests and assessments that can determine your personality, everyone knows that we are all different.  The fact that we are all unique does make the world an interesting place to live in.  It also makes the classroom fascinating and exciting. 

     We are all complex individuals.  We all think different, act different and learn in different ways.  While one person may be able to remember something after hearing it once, it may take you several times or you may have to write it down in order to remember it.  Learning styles vary from visual, auditory, tactile and so on.  Determining what learning style is best for you will not only help you throughout school, but also in work and life in general. 

       Visual learners usually gain knowledge from seeing things.  Charts, diagrams and graphs may make it easier for you to learn if you remember things from actually viewing them.  Tactile learners usually have to have hands on experience.  Take work for example.  You can read something a million times, but may not feel comfortable with it until you actually do the job physically.  Auditory learning is something we do everyday.  Have you ever wondered why you remember a song after you hear it a few times?  It’s the ability to remember something after hearing it repeatedly.  Just think if your favorite band could have sung all your notes in high school, we could have all been 4.0 students. 

     Along with determining your learning style take into consideration the different teaching styles.  Like students all professors are different.  They teach in dissimilar ways because they learn in different ways.  While one teacher may prefer to lecture throughout the whole class another may prefer to use projectors and just simply translate from the book.  Others may prefer to have group discussions.  Determining the teaching style is just as important as figuring out your learning style.

      Figuring out your learning style will help you throughout your life.  You should determine what’s the best way you learn.  It may not be the easiest or as fast as someone else, but if it will help you remember what you need to remember you should try it.  Also, remember that you may have to work a little harder if the professor doesn’t teach in the way you necessarily learn.  So you will have to rewrite your notes.  Extra work has never been proven to hurt anyone.